Sunday, December 26, 2010

Quick Barbed Wire Unspooler

We were in the process of enclosing a small heifer lot adjacent to one of our feeding pens and when the time came to string wire we discovered that the fancy un-spooling device I had made years ago was 80 miles away. The four wheeler we were using has a steel tubing frame to hold a box to haul around irrigation stuff or whatever. I cut a length of 3/4-inch pipe, drilled two 5/16-inch holes 13 inches apart, clamped it down at the off end with two small lengths of 1-inch tubing and a piece of angle iron and two vice grip clamps. We used a short piece of tubing and a single clamp behind the pipe at the spool end. I cut two crude discs with an inch and an eighth hole in the middle and about 4 inches in diameter. A quarter inch bolt through the first hole, with a nut, then the disc, then the roll of wire then another disc, then another quarter inch bolt and nut and we were ready to string wire.



The fabrication took about ten minutes. We used it to unspool about two rolls of wire (1320' each) without any problems. It should have a brake of some sort rather than the heavy glove we used to keep the spool from turning too fast. If the basket rack hadn't been there, I think
we could have extended the pipe to clear the fender and attached it directly to the four wheeler rack.

The apparatus did its job. We didn't have to suspend the roll on a pipe and carry it. We didn't spend any money and only a little time. I'm thinking about a very simple brake system to attach to the spool and to the pipe. If you aren't going to build lots of fence it will probably work as well as anything you could buy. When I figure out the brake, I'll let you know.

Someone asked me about the mud flaps. They are each half of an old door mat tied with snap ties to a piece of 3/8" X 1 1/2" tubing and tied to the rack with smooth wire. Pretty high tech. This four wheeler sometimes pulls a trailer that will hold two, three-string bales. In the wet, the bales get wet and muddy from the tire spray. The flaps are another of our chugly inventions (cheap but ugly).

JCE

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